Stamatis Tsilias is a serious man and an experienced chef. My first conclusion is based on his passion: Stamatis — club member Harley Davidson Club Hellas, biker chef — that’s what his friends call him.

And about Stamatis’s gastronomic experience, it is known that a year ago he received a gold medal in the “National Cuisine” nomination at the Sixth Gastronomic Forum in Greece.

The Greeks, however, are sedentary people, not inclined to change places, and the appearance of Stamatis in Moscow is a rare success for the owners. Molon lave.

Stamatis arrived not alone, he arrived with sous-chef — a beauty Lyceum Simionate.

In one of the restaurants he met Stamatis, they drank, they got into conversation and one Greek made an offer to another that he could not refuse.

Alexey and Stamatis were born on the same day and one year, and decided to make an official opening Molon lave on this day — September 30th.

Elena Anosova: Stamatis, have you come to Moscow with a bike?

Stamatis Tsilias: No, the bike stayed home.

Perhaps in the spring I will transport. I miss him very much! Its first Harley davidson I bought at eighteen.

My father, he was a sailor, went on a voyage, and I, without asking anyone, bought a motorcycle.

Elena Anosova: How sad it is to live a biker without a bike, I guess, but I don’t imagine how you will do Greek cuisine without Greek products.

Where do you get fatta or hard Greek cheeses?

Samson Moisidis: I have a long-term store of Greek products in Moscow Milos, there are some stocks there.

Various other sources are also available … I think, so long we will hold on.

Elena Anosova: Stamatis, what are the basic elements of Greek cuisine?

Stamatis Tsilias: First and foremost, olive oil, we use cold-pressed oil in the restaurant. Further herbs and spices. Plus sea salt, it is produced mainly on the Greek islands.

It is the elements that most fully and vividly reveal the taste of meat and fish dishes.

AT Molon lave abandoned the classic meze in the format of the Greek tavern. As a meze, guests usually order the first two sheets of the menu — dzadziki (homemade yogurt with grated cucumber and garlic) with a Greek bagel kuluri, Greek salad, eggplant caviar of melizana, zucchini cutlets, marinated octopus, phyto dough with spinach and feta. As a gastronomic specialty — Recin wine, the taste of tar evokes fond memories of the islands of Hellas.

Retsina is served, as expected, in metal jugs of red color, more resembling circles.

Samson Moisidis: Greeks mix recin with cola or sprite — probably seen in Greece? Three-quarters of cola, the rest is retsina. It turns out a curious taste effect!

In my homeland, the retsin is mostly drunk in taverns, it’s not a restaurant wine, but in Moscow we couldn’t refuse this colorful detail of a Greek feast. In addition to retsina, we have a fairly wide range of Greek wines — white, pink, red.

For example, Kanenas it is better to drink a rose, and a good white wine — Alpha, I love him very much. There is a famous Cretan wine Sitiya and wonderful red Rapsani.

Plus ouzo, tsipouro, metaxa.

In addition, we make hot Greek cocktails.

Elena Anosova: You are certainly in a very favorable position — virtually no competitors, not counting the cafe Gyros at the Leningrad market, but there, rather, Greek fast food. Nevertheless, the Moscow public likes to be surprised.

What kind of Greek cuisine do you offer?

Stamatis Tsilias: Our menu is a classic Greek cuisine, but in a modern version. Take, for example, moussaka. This is usually a fairly fat and hearty dish; if you order a moussaka, then you will not be able to eat anything else.

And we have a light moussaka, although it is cooked practically according to the classic recipe — eggplants, ground beef, semolina and potato mousse, bechamel sauce.

During the Greek feast, no one usually orders individual dishes for himself — all food, including hot, is put on the table and everyone tries.

AT Molon lave The main dishes are represented by the tenderest Hirino pork, which is baked in Greek herbs for 12 hours; lamb Arnie with baked pumpkin in red wine sauce; grilled octopus, cod with nut mashed potatoes. You can order a mussel saucepan or just a beef kebab.

And for dessert — hazelnut cake with syrup and chocolate icing, a trio of Greek sweets and homemade ice cream.

Coffee, naturally, is brewed on sand, in Turk and served with a glass of cold water.